FURNITURE PERSONALIZATION IN VIRTUAL ENVIRONMENT Taina Kaapu 1 ; Vuokko Takala-Schreib 2 ; Tarja Tiainen 3 1 Phil.Lic., Researcher, University of Tampere, taina.kaapu@uta.fi 2 Dr., Principal in Design Research, Seinäjoki University of Applied Sciences, vts@seamk.fi 3 Dr., Professor, University of Tampere, tarja@cs.uta.fi Abstract In this work-in-progress paper, we present ideas to support consumers’ participation to furniture development process by using technology. Moving from mass-production towards mass-customization requires new ways to communicate with customers and we offer one way in our study. In practice, we develop a prototype of Furniture Fitting-Room, which is a virtual space (that is a room and the walls are computer screens). Three-dimensional models of furniture are presented at the walls. As the project is multidisciplinary (furniture design, virtual technology and its human aspect), it is done in co-operation between several research institutes. Keywords Furniture, Personalization, Virtual Reality, Consumer INTRODUCTION Traditionally, furniture manufacturing is a low-tech industry, in which information technology (IT) is hardly used. Furniture industry is a design intensive sector, but most of the small and medium enterprises (SME) in home furniture production are focusing on handicraft skills instead of conceptual thinking. We planned a co-operative project for giving a possibility for SMEs to see and learn how IT and three-dimensional (3D) furniture models can be used for supporting business and product development. On the one hand, demand for more individualized furniture and improved quality have increased. On the other hand, cheaper furniture prices and faster delivery are expected. Product life cycles have shortened at the same time. These challenges can be reached by answering quickly consumers’ new needs; one tool for this is mass-customization. Idea of mass-customization is seen as “ability to use of flexible processes and organizational structures to produce varied and often individually customized products and services at the price of standardized, mass-produced alternatives” (Hart 1996). Today, mass-customization research is at the stage of investigating and understanding how the concept can be operationalized across sectors (MacCarthy et al. 2003). However, existing manufacturing and information systems are based on standardization approaches and they provide little support for moving from mass-production to more personalized products (Geerdink 2006). Furniture are profitable targets for personalization since, according to